


Sparks Fly (and so do the fireworks)

by WyldeSpiderRaptor



Series: Spideychelle Week 2k20 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Cuddling & Snuggling, Discussion of Service Animals, Disney World, Disney World & Disneyland, F/M, Fireworks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Good Friend Ned Leeds, Implied Flash Thompson Redemption, MJ Loves the Tower of Terror and I will Forever Believe This, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Mutual Pining, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Pining, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Spideychelle Week 2020, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Vacation, spideychelle week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24408217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyldeSpiderRaptor/pseuds/WyldeSpiderRaptor
Summary: Michelle Jones wasn't usually big on traveling, even if it was just a road trip after a Decathlon competition. Unless that trip was a full two weeks at Disney World.She just wasn't expecting to be there for Peter Parker when he needed her most.Spideychelle Week Day 1: Road Trip
Relationships: Betty Brant/Ned Leeds (background), Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Series: Spideychelle Week 2k20 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762618
Comments: 13
Kudos: 60





	Sparks Fly (and so do the fireworks)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time doing Spideychelle Week, and I'm excited! I'll try to do every prompt, but I can't make any promises, so don't hold me to that.
> 
> I have three out of the seven prompts done, and I don't think I'll be able to finish the others before Spideychelle Week is over, but I can do my best.

If she knew she’d be on that stupid school bus for thirteen hours to drive from Washington D.C. to Florida for a victory trip to Disney World after their latest decathlon competition, MJ would’ve said: “forget it”.

It wasn’t like she didn’t mind spending time with her team, it was just... the length of the drive was so long.

As long as she had her two losers sitting a row ahead of her, jabbering on about Star Wars or some other shit, she didn’t mind it too much.

After Homecoming, MJ had made a mental choice to sit closer to Parker and Leeds, which they didn’t mind in the slightest.

Peter seemed, almost...excited she was sitting with them. The earnest smile he always gave her whenever he saw her, the mess of chocolate curls he always tried smoothing out when she came over to their table, and his large, copper eyes that seemed to linger when she wasn’t even looking were always present in her mind, at school, and decathlon.

If anyone caught her watching Peter in any way, shape, or form, she'd blow it off by being her usual, aloof, observant self. That was it. She was just observant. There was no reason to sneak little glances at Peter in between classes, practicing decathlon, at lunch, or on this godforsaken road trip.

The road trip itself wasn’t the thing she was upset about. It was the fact that she would be forced to stare at the dead landscape outside her window or the back of Peter’s head.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t used to staring at the back of people’s heads. It was just...hard not to imagine her hands combing through his soft, chestnut curls, his head resting against her shoulder, hand gently gripping onto hers like it was his lifeline…

Michelle exhaled softly under her breath, heart starting to pick up its rhythm in her chest. Sure, she had a crush on Peter, what was the big deal? It wasn’t like he was going to recuperate those feelings.

He was into girls like Liz; popular, smart, talented… Pretty much perfect girlfriend material. She was nothing like Liz.

MJ was awkward, aloof, brutally honest, and she never got too close to anyone to even establish a clear friendship. She, according to the rather harsh words of her mother when she found out about her daughter’s loner-like tendencies, would never be able to attract a guy with that behavior.

Michelle knew her mother was just trying to get her into the swing of dating and starting a relationship because of her brother’s successful relationship that had lasted from his high school days and well into going to college.

But she wasn’t her brother. She didn’t want to feel pressured to live up to his successful life. She wanted to run her own life her way.

Her mind started to drift away from the harshness of her mother’s words back to Peter Parker when the loser in front of her laughed at something Ned had said. What made him laugh, she didn’t care to know, but she wanted to hear him laugh like that again. The sound made her heart swell and her mind go numb.

“You should ask him to sit with you,” Betty Brant whispered from behind her. She and her best friend, Cindy Moon, had been watching the little glanced Michelle had been firing at the oblivious Peter Parker, something she was pretty annoyed about.

“And why should I do that?” She sniffed, flipping another page in her book.

“Uh, I dunno… Maybe because you’ve been glancing up at him from your book a total of twenty-seven times in the last hour?” Cindy asked, a knowing smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. “Yes, we’ve been keeping count.”

Michelle rolled her eyes, further annoyed. “Why do you care, anyway? I’d expect you guys to be more interested in your relationships instead of prying into mine. Which, I mean, I don’t have one, and I don’t think I ever will anytime soon,” she added hastily, trying to backtrack.

“Oooh! Your girl’s got a crush!” Cindy mocked, but her taunt went unnoticed by the other students, who were too busy talking about the Disney World trip, and what they would be doing first.

Michelle internally scolded herself when Peter Parker of all people turned to glance over his shoulder at the three of them. His eyes landed on MJ, who looked up from her book to meet his large, puppy-dog eyes.

He smiled nervously, a hint of pink in his cheeks. “Hey, MJ.”

“‘Sup, loser?” She replied with a hint of breathlessness in her tone, her hand unconsciously flipping another page in her book. A few strands of dark, frizzy hair fell into her face, but she paid it no mind, as she was too distracted by the bright-eyed boy in front of her.

“I was, uh… I was wondering what you, uhm… What were you gonna do first in Disney World? R-right after we get our luggage up to our rooms that is,” he said hastily, a dorky smile on his face.

Michelle couldn’t help but feel her face grow hot at his earnest tone of voice. “Dunno yet,” she said nonchalantly. “Why’d you ask?”

“O-oh, w-well...uh… Ned and I were hoping to hit Hollywood Studios— y’know, where they have the Toy Story Playland, The Tower of Terror, that new Mickey Mouse ride, Galaxy’s Edge…” He trailed off, noticing his nervous rambling wasn’t getting them anywhere. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “O-of course, you don’t have to join us, I was just—”

“Okay.”

Upon hearing the soft reply, Ned looked over the back of the chair. “You want to come with us?” He looked genuinely surprised at her, almost as if he wasn’t expecting her to tag along with two losers like them.

“I mean...yeah. Where else would I be?”

“In all honesty…sitting on a bench in Main Street U.S.A, drawing people in a crisis or reading a book,” the boy replied.

Michelle quirked an eyebrow. “Please. The last thing I’d want to do in Disney World is sitting on an uncomfortable bench all day.” Her lips quirked up in a smug smile, dark eyes focusing on Peter. “I mean, where’s the fun in that?”

“Well… I guess that makes sense,” Ned said thoughtfully, oblivious to the crimson red blush creeping across Peter’s cheeks, which only made the girl’s smirk widen.

Peter swallowed thickly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I-I mean, Main Street’s _pretty_ fun… You’ve got all those shops, restaurants, a-and the railroad… So it’s not _that_ boring…”

“But still,” MJ leaned back against the uncomfortable leather school bus chair chocolate eyes scanning Peter’s countenance, eyes flickering to his lips for a brief second, “it’s not that fun just sitting around or shopping instead of going on the Millenium Falcon.”

 _That_ made Peter’s breathing hitch, and Ned’s mouth hang open.

“I research vacations like this, it’s not weird,” Michelle sniffed, flipping another page in her book. “What do _you_ do? Watch videos of all the rides?”

“In our defense, those videos rock,” Ned said defensively, while Peter stayed completely silent, almost as if he had a problem trying to function like a normal person.

He couldn’t focus on what Ned had said after MJ agreed to join them on their Hollywood Studios escapade.

His eyes unconsciously scanned her countenance, occasionally dipping to focus on her lips before his brain could process what he was doing, but he couldn’t see any other emotion aside from the nonchalant aloofness she was known for.

They stopped at a gas station with a Denny’s in South Carolina for food and to stock up on some snacks just in case anyone got hungry on the way to their Georgia hotel.

Michelle, from just being observant, would notice that Peter was a bit...jumpy. Especially if he started dozing off before jerking awake in what looked like panic. She had no idea why Peter was acting like that, no matter how observant she was.

She was fully aware that he had a close-knit relationship with Tony Stark, especially before the Blip and Decimation, so it was only apparent that his death hit the poor teenager pretty hard.

She could pick up hushed murmurs from Ned, asking him questions in a soft voice, but Peter barely responded to them.

“Don’t mean to, y’know... _intrude_ on anything, but we’re stopped,” Michelle finally piped up after another hour of hearing Peter and Ned’s hushed whispers from the seat in front of her.

Peter glanced up, almost like he hadn’t been expecting them to stop so soon.

Michelle waited for the two dorks in front of her to scoot out of their seat before standing up herself, gathering her book into her backpack on the way down the bus aisle.

The hotel was a standard, mostly outdoor hotel with a small lobby building on one side, a gift shop on the other, and a pool right in the middle of the parking lot where cars were situated in parking spaces outside a different hotel door.

Right next to the hotel was an IHOP, and a pathway leading to a bus parking lot, while an empty building sat on the other side of the hotel.

The setting sun cast a golden glow on the back of the building, greatly contrasting the white concrete and blue paint of the railing upstairs, doors, and roof.

Michelle looked over her shoulder while Mr. Harrington paired students up for each hotel room, spotting a Village Inn right across the street, which was where she suspected they would be eating at for dinner.

IHOP seemed like the most appropriate place to have breakfast since the hotel they were staying at didn’t supply their guests with that luxury.

She was a bit surprised that she was paired with Gwen Stacy, who was one of the Decimation survivors, instead of Betty Brant like she usually was.

Ned and Peter were paired together, no surprise there, and instantly started chatting about the upcoming trip, and which rides they were going to go on first.

Those two dorks were always chatting about something that interested them. Be it a movie they both liked or LEGOs, MJ guaranteed that they’d be talking about something like that.

As the team piled into their hotel rooms to drop their bags off before meeting back outside to come to the decision on where they would be eating dinner that night, Michelle wasn’t surprised that everyone voted Village Inn, seeing as it was convenient being right across the street.

Out of the corner of her eye, the sixteen-year-old had begun to notice that Peter kept glancing over at her, only looking away when he was caught or if someone was speaking to him.

He had started doing that a lot recently and, although as amusing as it may be, it made her heart rise into her throat, pounding too hard and too fast for her liking, which she knew led to flushed cheeks, and then an unhealthy habit of picking at her already too-short nails.

Whatever. Sure, Peter’s little glances were cute and all, but they didn’t matter. Not even the little glances _she_ unconsciously sent his way mattered.

 _Stop being such an idiot_ , she mentally scolded herself, as she picked her way through a garden salad and Reuben sandwich, trying to ignore the doe-eyed loser sitting across from her, who was silently dunking his French fries one by one into a puddle of ketchup he squeezed out onto his plate.

When Peter made a swipe for her pile of fries that she had stacked neatly onto one side of the plate, away from her sandwich, she tried to force herself into smacking his hand away like she would have done with anyone else, but the thought of touching Peter Parker’s hand made her stomach clench with nerves, and she thought better about it and focused on finishing the last bite of her salad.

Sure, maybe the thought of holding Peter’s hand flitted through her mind once or twice, it was nothing special. It was stupid. A stupid thought centered around the stupid feelings she had started to develop all because of the sincere look Peter always gave everyone despite the fact they had shown some form of negativity towards him in the past.

 _How is he always so…._ good _?_ MJ wondered silently, as the team wrapped up their food to head back to the hotel to get ready for bed and the second several hours drive out on the road.

As of right now, she couldn’t _wait_ to get to Florida, ride the Tower of Terror, and maybe eat way too many churros for it to be healthy. She was allowed to have fun on this trip, even with her stupid, childlike crush getting in the way of her ability to think properly.

* * *

Michelle thanked whoever granted her the power of keen observation skills to see that Peter looked awful when he dragged himself out of his and Ned’s hotel room the following morning.

The dark circles under his eyes, frequent swaying, and silent yawning he tried covering by raising his hand to his mouth to stifle them were an indicator of a lack of sleep.

She had already overheard Betty and Ned’s plans of sitting next to each other on the bus down to Florida, which made the thought she so desperately tried to push out of her mind come to light.

 _Why don’t you sit on the bus with him and worsen your ever-growing crush? That’ll be_ such _a good idea!_

A good idea her _ass_.

But seeing Peter half-ready to pass out at any given moment, she could push aside her hatred for her feelings towards him for just a moment.

Squaring her shoulders, she strode past the rest of her teammates to reach him. He was leaning against the bus, patiently waiting for the “okay” from Mr. Harrington to start boarding, suitcase positioned at his feet, backpack slung over his shoulder.

“Hey, loser,” she greeted with a surprisingly soft tone of voice.

Peter’s bleary-eyed stare landed on her, making him smile through the tired haze he was under.

“Oh. Hey, MJ…” He greeted before covering his mouth when he ended up yawning for the fourth time that hour. “What’re you doing over here..?”

“Well, as it’s apparent to me that Ned and Betty are sharing a seat, and since I don’t have anyone to share a seat with, I came to you as a last resort,” she said, trying to sound as nonchalant as she could. “I mean, it’s clear you were ready to pass out at breakfast, even more so now.”

“Har har,” Peter chuckled weakly, straightening up to get a better look at the taller girl. “Well, I mean, if it’s not too much trouble… You could sit with me.” The boy’s doe eyes widened, as he instantly backpedaled. “Th-that is if you want to! I-if you don’t want to, th-then that’s okay, too, I’ll understand—”

Michelle cut him off with an amused, “okay” before the shorter boy could spew out any more word vomit. “Jeez, for being Spider-Man, you sure do ramble a lot. I’m surprised you haven’t talked your tongue off yet,” she teased lightly in a low voice, making Peter rub the back of his neck shyly.

“Y-yeah… I gotta work on that, don’t I?” He said, refusing to make eye contact with her for fear of his face turning a dark shade of crimson if he met her dark, chocolate stare.

MJ watched with some form of intense fondness, as Peter carded a hand through his mess of curls that adorned his head, relief instantly weighing down his body when Harrington finally allowed them on the bus.

Michelle watched Peter stagger on, the exhausted boy trudging to a seat in the far back with her on his tail.

He piled his suitcase at the very back of the bus where everyone else would put their suitcases before slumping into the seat closest to his luggage, backpack resting at his feet.

Michelle sat next to him, placing her backpack under her feet, watching him with her dark, cocoa eyes.

He rested his forehead against the cool window, glossy eyes staring out at nothing, as he attempted to fall asleep to catch up on how many hours he missed, letting out a sigh of exhaustion.

“You’ve got time, Parker, just sleep,” Michelle reassured, pulling out one of her sketchbooks to continue working on the drawing she started in the hotel room. “I’ll wake you when we arrive in Florida, got it?”

Peter nodded silently, arms folded over his chest, as he let his eyes slip shut.

 _Okay, good. He’s asleep_ , MJ thought silently, her pounding heart starting to maintain its usual, calm rhythm. She continued to work on her sketch as the bus pulled out onto the road once again, the soft sound of Peter’s breathing speeding up as his sleepy little twitches became more violent and sudden.

He shifted his position until his head fell onto the girl’s shoulder, then landed in her lap.

Michelle froze, watching the still-sleeping Peter as his fingers twitched in his sleep, not sure how to react to his head resting on her thigh, using her as a pillow.

Unable to draw without getting eraser shavings all over Peter’s head and face, she put her sketchbook away with shaky hands and then pulled out the book she had brought with her when she froze.

_Prrrrrup…..prrrrr….prrrrrr…._

What in the world?

Looking down at Peter, Michelle watched him with an intense stare, almost as if she expected the small, low rumble to be coming from him. Yes, she knew the idiot was Spider-Man, but what other secret was he hiding?

“Parker, if you so much as smuggled a cat into the bus, I swear I’m gonna—” she paused her exasperated, breathless tone when she heard the same noise as before. That little purring noise that sounded too much like a cat for it to be a coincidence.

There couldn’t have been a cat in Peter’s bag. He wouldn’t have been able to keep it in there for long without Mr. Harrington sneezing his head off, thanks to his awful cat allergy, and it didn’t sound anything like a phone vibrating...

So what was making that noise?

_Prrrrrup…. Prrrrrrup….._

She looked down at Peter, who was still nestled close against her side, still sleeping, a steady, rhythmic vibration from within his throat, the tiny, low rumble coming from deep within his chest.

That’s when it clicked. _Peter_ was making that noise.

She knew service was limited wherever they were, so she really couldn’t text Ned about her discovery as Peter continued to sleep, still making those tiny noises, as she pulled out her phone.

Sure, she couldn’t text Ned about Peter’s little noises… But that didn’t mean she didn’t have any blackmail material.

She gently scratched the top of Peter’s head with her one hand, her other holding her recording phone, smirking to herself when the noises Peter had started to make grow louder with her carding her fingers through his chocolate curls.

 _This is freaking adorable. How in the world is he making that noise?_ MJ thought silently, her smirk turning into more of a smile.

She didn’t want to admit that whatever noise Peter was making was cute… But she didn’t want him to stop.

They had several more hours until they reached Florida, thanks to them leaving bright and early that morning and barley stopping to get food at a nearby Chick-Fil-A—she regretfully had to wake Peter for that, no way was she letting him get out of eating breakfast, purring or not—so she simply let him sleep, one of her hands being occupied with scrolling through a book she downloaded onto her Amazon Kindle app, her other hand busy carding through Peter’s fluffy curls while he purred happily and got in the extra few hours of sleep he so desperately needed.

* * *

Michelle was not surprised in the slightest when she saw how crowded Disney World was. Maybe sitting on a bench in Main Street wasn’t such a bad idea. Except she had her second FastPass for Tower of Terror in an hour, and she didn’t want to miss that.

Peter looked a bit more energized, as he and Ned led her around Toy Story Playland, the excited screams of tourists and rumbling noise of the Slinky Dog roller coaster next to them pounding against her ears.

They had split from the rest of the team, who had gone to the Animal Kingdom section of the resort to find something to do while Michelle and her two loser friends had had already rode several rides within the vicinity of Hollywood Studios.

They only had to stop and take a breather for a few moments after disembarking from Millenium Falcon: Smugglers’ Run when Peter fell into a dissociative panic attack spell, which led to her and Ned trying to reassure him that he was okay, that he wasn’t in space, that he was on earth, and that he was safe.

That was the only major setback other than Ned had led them in the opposite direction of Tower of Terror, and they ended up lost at the Blizzard Beach Water Park by boarding the wrong Disney shuttle while they were trying to go to the Magic Kingdom.

That was why Peter was now walking around with damp clothes, and hair that was already starting to curl up like crazy.

She loved it when Peter’s hair looked all fluffy and curly, thanks to the humidity of Florida. It just made her want to pull out her phone and show the video of him purring in his sleep while she scratched at his scalp to him and Ned. she knew Ned would go crazy over it, and Peter would probably shrink away in embarrassment, but it would still be worth it.

Then again, maybe showing them the video so soon after Peter had suffered through a panic attack wasn’t the brightest idea.

“Hey, guys? You think we could stop somewhere and find food?” Peter asked sheepishly, fiddling with nothing in his hands. 

Ned pulled out his phone, automatically opening the Disney World app he downloaded before they had left. “Uh, there’s 50’s Prime Time Cafe, Backlot Express, BaseLine Tap House—”

“Okay, give me that.” MJ snatched his phone, eyes scanning the restaurant names, and then looking around the area they currently occupied.

They were sitting on a bench right outside Mickey and Minne’s Runaway Railway, right by the entrance of Hollywood Studios, and right across from it was a restaurant.

“Why don’t we just go to the restaurant _twenty feet away from us_?” She asked as Ned snatched his phone back, chuckling nervously.

“Which one? There’s two, MJ..” Peter motioned to the Dockside Diner, then the Hollywood Brown Derby.

“Dockside Diner looks cheaper and better,” Ned said cheerfully. “Besides, I think we need a reservation for Hollywood Brown Derby.”

“Probably,” MJ agreed as they stood up from the bench and walked towards the outdoor diner.

The whole exterior of the diner was built to look like a steamboat with a large sign over the front counter with the logo in bright blue cursive, a drawing of a pelican above it with the words “Oh buoy, oh buoy! It’s good food!” on either side.

The main color palette was blue and white, large bright blue umbrellas shielding customers eating hot dogs or nachos or milkshakes to protect them from the harsh Flordia sun.

After trying to find some loophole around getting a larger portion of the macaroni and cheese from the kids’ menu, as well as choosing which of the...four entrees they wanted to try, the three teenagers snagged a wooden picnic table partially hidden under a blue umbrella to eat their lunch. They weren’t able to find a loophole around making Peter’s order of macaroni in an adult size, so Peter had decided to order three orders of the only kids’ menu option separately from Ned and MJ’s double order of chile cheese nachos and two chocolate milkshakes.

The three kids frequently checked their phones to make sure Mr. Harrington didn’t email them or if any of their classmates had texted to confirm that they all were still planning on meeting up at Epcot at 2:30.

They didn’t know how long it was going to take them to reach Epcot from where they were, so they opted to hurry through their food to catch the Disney Skyliner gondola lift to reach the France Pavillion of Epcot before meeting up with the rest of the team by the enormous Spaceship Earth geosphere before heading to the Magic Kingdom as not to miss the fireworks show at the Cinderella Castle.

Michelle had noticed that Peter was _very_ quiet when the fireworks show was mentioned, which was confusing. She didn’t know the full story of what had happened to him before the Decimation, neither did Ned.

All she knew was that he had gone up into space to follow Tony Stark, and he didn’t return to earth until everyone was brought back by Bruce Banner’s Snap five years later.

She didn’t ever press for the full story of what happened to him and chose to stay quiet about it, thinking that Peter might not want her, or anyone, to press into what happened to him during the Battle of Earth, and the battle five years ago he took part in.

“Which way should we go to get to the others?” Ned asked while he and his friends walked through the France pavilion store, Souvenirs de France.

Peter had a giant Marie stuffed animal tucked under one arm he planned on bringing back to May, while MJ was holding three Mickey Ears pins that were painted to look like the France flag, one for each of them, and a pink beret Ned dared her to buy, while Ned himself was busy pulling change out of his wallet to use in one of the press penny machines.

“Which is the shortest way?” Peter asked, tilting his head.

“The way through the United Kingdom, and Canada Pavilions,” MJ said, scrolling through the Disney World app’s digital map. “Tons of stores at the United Kingdom Pavilion, too.”

“Well, I don’t mind shopping for a little bit more,” Peter said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Unless you don’t want to, th-then that’s okay.”

Michelle shrugged. “Okay.”

The copper-colored puppy-dog eyes of the shorter boy in front of her smiled earnestly, nodding. “Okay.”

“Alright, I’m ready, guys! Check it out!” Ned held up his press penny, which had a picture of Mickey Mouse in French attire standing next to the Eiffel Tower.

“There’s a store in the United Kingdom Pavilion called The Toy Soldier,” Ned announced as soon as they reached the next Epcot pavilion.

“Why don’t we go check that out?” Peter suggested eagerly. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, which made Michelle’s heart melt.

How in the world could this dork be any more adorable? First the purring, and now this. Jeez, she was getting in way over her head.

Instead of saying anything she knew she’d regret, MJ settled on a, “whatever, loser”, while walking in the direction of the shop.

Hearing Peter and Ned freak out over the _Doctor Who_ and _Sherlock_ merchandise the store held, she affectionately watched Peter eagerly pay for a TARDIS sweatshirt and a blue t-shirt with the word “Whovian” on the front.

Seeing how happy he was made Michelle’s heart soar. She couldn’t stop a smile from tugging at the corners of her lips, as she busied herself in buying a Mickey Ears pin that was painted to look like the United Kingdom flag.

Michelle was grateful that her brother deposited an extra $300 to her bank account to let her spend at Disney World, while Peter had begun using the StarkCard he was given for Christmas the past year with who-knows-how-much money on it. It was a gift from Tony Stark. $1,000 was the equivalent of $10 to him.

They met up with the rest of their group at Spaceship Earth and agreed to head back to their hotel to drop off whatever souvenirs they had bought.

Ned and Peter instantly started chatting about what they were going to do in the Magic Kingdom, even going as far as asking MJ what she wanted to do.

“Seven Dwarfs Mine Train seems pretty fun,” she admitted after a while. “Y’know in Fantasyland?”

“Fantasyland has some pretty good churros,” Betty piped up from behind them, smiling.

That made Peter’s eyes light up, just as Michelle slung an arm over his shoulders, causing his face to flush scarlet.

“I think Churro-Boy over here has had enough churros to eat for the day.”

“How about this; I get one more churro, and I’ll buy you one of those Gideon’s Cookies,” Peter bargained, lifting his head to look up at her, a playful smirk on his face.

MJ was sure he could see the hint of pink on her cheeks before she huffed with a “shut up, loser”.

Treat bargaining had begun to be a common thing between the two of them, especially back during their sophomore year when they met up after school or decathlon to study. If Peter was late for any reason, he owed her two, still warm churros, and if she was late for any reason, she owed him a still warm churro or a cookie, usually both. Let’s just say, MJ got a lot of churros from Peter that year.

The Decathlon team had a lot of fun riding all the Fantasyland rides, some more than once during the next few hours they spent at the Magic Kingdom (Peter especially got a kick out of witnessing Michelle beat Gaston in a fistfight while he got it on tape, but they weren’t allowed to talk about that).

Everything was going smoothly. They got dinner at a restaurant in Tomorrowland called Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe, she and Peter went on Splash Mountain and got soaked all over again, but when nighttime arrived and everything was lit up in gorgeous bright lights, people began to prepare for the fireworks show at Cinderella Castle.

Michelle had begun to notice that Peter was shuffling his feet awkwardly, as Flash playfully teased him about some sort of crush he had, but that didn’t even get him to crack a smile.

“I-I’m not acting weird because of a crush, Flash…” She overheard him mumble in an embarrassed voice.

“Sure seems like it, Peter...” Ned pointed out, which only made Peter grip his extra-large Baby Yoda plush harder against his chest.

Peter shook his head, trying to calm his Spider-Sense pinging in warning at the base of his skull. “Guys, it’s not that, I prom—”

_KA-BOOM._

Everyone’s eyes steered toward the castle when the first firework went off in a shower of red and gold sparks.

Everyone was mesmerized by the fireworks shooting out from behind the castle, eliciting a few cheers and whoops from the crowd.

Flash immediately pulled out his phone, live-streaming the fireworks show for his “FlashMob”.

MJ smiled, watching the fireworks show in awe, her Haunted Mansion sweatshirt cozy against her body, as she silently thanked Peter for surprising her with through one of his bouts of stuttery word vomit.

She turned to look to ask him what he thought about the show, but she couldn’t see him anywhere.

In fact… Peter was gone altogether.

Shoving her way through the crowd of tourists and squealing kids decked out in Disney gear, she let her dark, cocoa eyes scan Main Street for the sixteen-year-old, brow furrowed. Where had he run off t? Was his aunt calling him or something and he had run off to somewhere quieter?

Trying to locate Peter was harder than she expected since she could barely see through the darkness of shadows cast by the Main Street buildings.

On the next explosion of colorful light behind her, she could hear the faintest whimper from a lonely corner in between Main Street buildings and instantly started to walk towards the sound.

Curled up in a ball, Baby Yod plush tucked safely in his lap, was Peter. His eyes were red-rimmed and squinted tightly shut, his hands were clamped over his ears, and he was rocking back and forth, murmuring apologies and whimpering pleads of “make it stop” over and over again.

“Peter..?” She called out softly, making her way towards the curled up ball of her friend.

Peter visibly flinched when another round of fireworks was shot into the sky. Carefully opening his eyes, he looked up to see MJ standing over him, her lips pulled into a concerned line. “Oh.. H-hey…” He gritted out sheepishly before shrinking back when a series of loud fireworks explosions went off in the background.

“Your super senses acting up again?” She asked, sitting next to him.

Peter shook his head. “N-not this time… More like my anxiety…” He sounded like he was trying to force himself to say the dreaded word.

Peter didn’t like to admit defeat or weakness. She understood that. He was a superhero, and he felt like superheroes didn’t have weaknesses, although Michelle was smart about that. She knew that all superheroes carried some sort of trauma on their shoulders, Peter more so than any she knew.

Although MJ wasn’t too good when it came to emotions or comforting people, she still sat next to Peter as he shifted his position until he was pressed against her, his body visibly shaking.

“Can… Can we please go back to the hotel..?” He mumbled nervously when another round of fireworks went off.

Michelle looked down at the shorter boy and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, sure.”

She helped him stand up, watching him flinch and shuffle closer to her each time the fireworks went off out of the corner of her eye as they walked towards the monorail to reach Disney’s Contemporary Resort, which was where they were staying.

They managed to catch the monorail right before it left the Main Street station and climbed into a vacant car before it sped off down the track.

Peter kept his gaze firmly locked on his Baby Yoda plush, worrying its ear in between his fingers. “May, uh... May thinks I should get a service dog… Y’know... to, uh...to help with my anxiety…” He sounded embarrassed, refusing to meet the taller girl’s gaze, still looking down at the top of his toy’s head, his tennis shoes squeaking against the tile floor each time he shuffled his feet.

“A service dog, hh?” Michelle said softly, a small smile on her lips.

“Yeah… May and I talked it through with our landlord, and he allowed it, as long as it didn’t shed, so…” Peter lifted his puppy-dog eyed gaze to meet MJ’s and she could see how awful he looked. “There’s a standard poodle that we both really, really love, and the service dog training center paired us up a few times. We hit it off rather quickly, and we’re gonna go pick her up and take her home when we get back from Florida.”

“That actually sounds kinda fun, Peter. I mean, when you think about it, at least.” Michelle shrugged nonchalantly. “What does she look like?”

“Oh. Yeah. Lemme find a picture of her.” The doe-eyed boy pulled out his phone and scrolled through his camera roll until he found the photo he was looking for. “She looks like this. Her name’s Layla. The, uh, service dog place picked the name out, not us.”

Staring back at MJ from the phone’s bright screen was an apricot-colored poodle, sitting all tall and cute, head tilted at the camera, a red service dog vest covering her body, a metal prong collar hanging loosely around her neck. On her belly was a large scar that stuck out against a bald spot where her fur had been shaved from being spayed.

“I can see she’s already been spayed,” she noted thoughtfully.

“Yeah… Well… The one main reason why we picked her is that she’s kinda like me; we both have a knack for getting into danger,” Peter laughed weakly, ducking his head when Michelle stood up to sit next to him, a smirk on her face.

“Really? How many near-death experiences has _she_ had?” The girl asked, lightly poking Peter’s side, causing him to flinch back with a yelp and smack her hand away.

“Well… Not nearly as many as I have, but for a year-old dog... It’s a lot,” Peter chuckled, still holding his Baby Yoda, all fear from the fireworks being blocked out. “The first time, the breeders irresponsibly left the gate to their yard open, and she got out. She was wandering down the side of a road and someone picked her up before they hit her and brought her back. The second time… Well, that was more recent.”

Michelle frowned, looking concerned. “What happened to her?”

Peter took a deep breath. “W-well... Deep-chested dogs, like standard poodles, Dachshunds, Whippets, Greyhounds, and a few other breeds— spaying those kinds of dogs is really hard because there’s an artery the vet needs to tie off and cauterize or they’ll die of internal bleeding. They aren’t taught this in veterinary school, which is stupid, but anyway, when the vet sent her home early instead of keeping her overnight, Layla’s foster family had to take her _back_ ten minutes after they arrived home because she was showing symptoms of internal bleeding.”

MJ blinked in outrage. “Are you serious? They didn’t even care to let her stay overnight?” She asked, shocked.

“Not until they brought her back. Oh man, they were so mad,” Peter replied, shaking his head. “Her foster family instantly sued and the surgeon who performed the spaying on Layla was fired because they found traces of alcohol on him during another surgery.”

Michelle shook her head. “Unbelievable… You and that poor dog _both_ have been through hell and back…”

Peter laughed at that when the monorail halted. “Yeah. I guess so, huh?”

The two teenagers gathered their stuff up from their seats and instantly scurried out of their car to head into their hotel.

“So… Is Layla an emotional support dog? Since you said she helps with PTSD and stuff like that,” Michelle asked, sounding genuinely curious.

The shorter boy shook his head. “No. Emotional support dogs don’t qualify as legitimate service dogs according to ADA law. Layla’s going to have to go everywhere with me, and an emotional support dog can’t do that.”

“Except as Spider-Man, right? It’ll look pretty suspicious to see Spider-Man swinging around with a sixty-pound dog,” Mj pointed out in a hushed ton which made Peter chuckle.

“Yeah, no. Layla stays home while I’m on patrol. It’s too risky for her to be out with me. Besides, she already gets carsick. I can’t imagine her getting _airsick_.” He pulled his room key out of his pocket to unlock his room door. “Do you, uh… do you want to come in..?” He offered shyly, his face flushing pink.

Michelle rolled her eyes at his earnest tone of voice. “Sure, loser. Why not?”

Peter smiled bashfully, as he pushed his door open.

The room looked incredibly similar to MJ and Gwen’s room, except it wasn’t as messy. Both Peter and Ned were pretty good about keeping their room up, even after room service stopped by to clean up after them. Gwen was messy no matter what, and that got on MJ’s last nerve, so it was nice to see a clean room for a change.

The room looked like a typical, standard hotel room. It had a table and chair against the wall, two queen-sized beds, a TV hanging on the wall, a pull-out couch, a small bathroom near the door, and a balcony that oversaw the entirety of the Magic Kingdom. Their view was absolutely incredible.

“If it’s uh… If it’s okay, I’m just gonna…” Peter awkwardly gathered his pajamas from his suitcase, smiling nervously, his cheeks tinted pink.

“Oh. yeah, yeah sure. That’s, uh, that’s fine. Maybe after, we could, uhm… I’ll find some way to stream Disney+ on the TV, see what’s on.” Michelle nodded hastily, as Peter’s head moved up and down like a bobblehead.

“Right, yeah. Okay. uh… I’ll be right out.” He shuffled awkwardly into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Michelle tore her gaze away from the door as soon as she heard the shower water hitting the porcelain of the tub. Climbing onto Peter’s bed, setting up his Baby Yoda to make it look like he was sitting up next to her, she aimed the remote at the TV, sifting through whatever was currently playing on any of the channels Disney world had to offer.

She was disappointed that Disney Channel was playing some stupid _SpongeBob_ knock-off show and instantly pulled up her Disney+ app to try and connect it to the hotel’s TV.

By the time Peter had finished with his shower and came out wearing a black _The Mandalorian_ t-shirt with the logo stamped across it, and his infamous Hello Kitty pajama pant with his hair messed up and fluffier from being towel-dried, the girl was already fifteen minutes into an episode of _Prop Culture_. The superhero flopped down on the bed next to her, instantly burrowing under the covers of the bed, head resting on her thigh. He sighed, too tired to care about moving, as MJ’s thoughts were instantly filled with the thought of him purring again like how he did on the bus.

“I… I had fun today…” He murmured awkwardly, as MJ looked down at him, bemused.

“Yeah… Yeah, I did, too…” She replied nonchalantly, silently hoping he’d fall asleep soon so she could hear his adorable purring once again.

Peter yawned, hugging his Baby Yoda to his chest. “Maybe… Maybe tomorrow we could spend some time at Animal Kingdom..?” He asked sleepily, his damp curls dripping droplets of water onto her pant leg.

“As long as you buy me a churro and one of the _Avatar_ stuffed animals,” she bargained, snuggling under the covers next to him without thinking much of it.

Peter rolled over onto his side, eyes starting to droop. “M’kay… G’night, MJ… Thank you for, uhm… For helping me with my anxiety during the fireworks…”

“It was nothing, loser…” MJ mumbled, tucking an arm underneath the pillow behind her head, her other arm draping itself over Peter’s waist.

A smug grin tugged at her features when she reached up to scratch at Peter’s scalp, causing that low, rumbling purr from slipping past his lips.

_Prrrrrrrp….. Prrrrrrrrr… Prrrrrrrrrrrrrr..._

Peter furrowed his brow, mumbling something that sounded like, “you did that on purpose”, which made the taller girl exhale a breathy laugh.

“Go to sleep, loser,” she said softly, making him smile and roll over to face her.

He opened his bright copper eyes, staring at her deep cocoa ones. “Not without a goodnight kiss,” he whispered, reaching his head up to allow his lips to barely graze her forehead.

Taken by surprise, MJ pushed herself up onto her elbows, looking down at her smug dork before a smug grin of her own spread across her face. She buried her fingers into his fluffy curls, making his eyes flutter shut and another purr to erupt from his throat as he snuggled closer to her.

“You’re such an idiot,” she murmured, leaning down to plant her own butterfly kiss to his forehead.

By the time Ned found them thirty minutes later, they were both out like a light, Peter purring non-stop and sounding eerily similar to a phone on vibrate, one of his arms tucked under a pillow, the other hugging his Baby Yoda to his chest, with MJ snuggled close to him from behind, one arm slung over Peter’s waist, the other tucked over her mess of frizzy curls.

Shaking his head with a knowing smile, Ned turned off the TV, then the lamp on the nightstand to let them rest.

As if nothing had happened the previous night, both Peter and MJ don’t mention it to anyone. But they’ll never be able to forget the comfort they provided for each other that hot and humid Florida night.

**Author's Note:**

> You have absolutely NO idea HOW HARD this prompt was to write.
> 
> Before the Covid-19 and lockdown orders were instated, my family and I were planning to go to Disney World for my eighteenth birthday and when my sister and I graduated high school. Unfortunately, because of us being forced to wear masks wherever we go, that dream was shot down really quickly.
> 
> I've only been to Disneyland a few times, so I've never been to Disney World. Since WDW is closer to New York than Disneyland is, I thought that was probably the best bet to have the AcaDec team travel there instead of all the way to the other side of the United States.
> 
> Since I've never been to Disney World, I had to download the WDW app on my phone to virtually navigate the park to find out where the heck Peter and his friends were going to go/what they were going to do, as well as look at the menu items for the restaurants they were going to be eating at.
> 
> From both trying to write an accurate representation of a WDW vacation, as well as struggling to write through the explanation of what happened to Peter's upcoming service dog without thinking of how my own dog passed away (Peter's story isn't far from the truth, except his dog lived and mine didn't), so I was on-and-off when it came to writing this story.
> 
> (I've seen stuff on Tumblr before that involve Peter purring, and I really couldn't resist writing my own version of him purring in the presence of MJ. I just think that'll be a cute Spideychelle headcanon to experiment with.)
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading this little drabble, and I'll see you soon with the next one!


End file.
